The Bank of Cauca
One Peso · Five Pesos · Cali, May 16, 1888
One Peso
Series A, No.° 78586 · Cali, May 16, 1888
One of southwestern Colombia's most important banks:Issued during the private issue period, this banknote shows the typical style of the time, with allegorical vignettes and portraits engraved by specialized North American houses.
Five Pesos
Series A, No.° 7546 · Cali, May 16, 1888
Historical and Issue Context
The first modern bank in Greater Cauca:Banco del Cauca was founded in December 1873 in Popayán, capital of the Sovereign State of Cauca, when a group of local investors raised 300 thousand pesos to establish it. It is considered the first modern bank in the region and the first credit establishment of its kind, with a decisive role in mobilizing capital and extending credit through its banknotes.1
Presence in Cali:With the commercial boom that the opening of the road to Buenaventura brought, Banco del Cauca extended its activity to Valle del Cauca, where this banknote —dated in Cali on May 16, 1888— documents its local circulation, in the era of free banking.2
No central bank:Between 1871 and 1886, Colombia experienced its most prolific period of free banking, with 34 private banks created throughout the country; Each issued its own banknotes backed by its own credit, without a forced exchange rate or central bank to unify the currency.3
Key Details Visible on Banknotes
- Vignettes of the Un Peso:allegorical figures and an engraved portrait, with the heading “El Banco del Cauca” and the legend payment to bearer, typical of the North American banking printing style of the time.
- Central vignette of the Cinco Pesos:a portrait and allegorical figures occupy the center of the obverse, with the coat of arms of the Sovereign State of Cauca reproduced on the reverse —a visual affirmation of Cauca's political identity within the United States of Colombia.
- Text of the obligation:heading “Cali, May 16, 1888”, with the usual formula of payment to bearer and at sight, and the signature lines of the bank directors.
- Numbering:“Serie A, N.° 78586” on the One Peso banknote and “Serie A, N.° 7546” on the Five Peso banknote, printed on the upper corners of the obverse.
Additional Context
These two specimens —brothers of the same Cali issue of 1888— document the extension of free banking from Bogotá and Payanesa to Valle del Cauca, in the last decade before Law 57 of 1887 began to subordinate commercial banks to the forced acceptance of the role of the National Bank, a prelude to the monetary centralization that would culminate, in 1923, with the creation of the Bank of the Republic.4
Notes
1. Valencia Llano, Alonso.Businessmen and politicians in the Sovereign State of Cauca, 1860–1895.Universidad del Valle, Cali, 1993; Preston Hyland, Richard.Credit and the economy, 1851–1880.Sociedad y Economía en el Valle del Cauca, volume IV, Universidad del Valle, Bogotá, 1983.
2. Collazos Rodríguez, Jaime Andrés, and Arley Barandica Villegas. “The history of the Banco de la República in Cali and the establishment of the main banking pillars in the city at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century.”Essays on Regional Economy, n.° 44, Banco de la República, 2006.
3. Wikipedia. “Banks of Colombia.”es.wikipedia.org, accessed 2026. — 4. Meisel Roca, Adolfo. “The Commercial Banks in the Age of Free Banking, 1871–1923.” InBanco de la República: background, evolution and structure, Banco de la República, 1990.